Power Cut

The one-time mighty power-broker is having to run around in the corridors of power,complaining against the party that had made him powerful

The one-time mighty power-broker is having to run around in the corridors of power,complaining against the party that had made him powerful. Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh has taken up the cause of actress-turned-politician Jaya Prada,the only one to have stuck with him in his bad times,claiming that she was harassed by authorities of the SP-ruled UP government in the garb of removing the red beacon from her car. Singh personally delivered a letter to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister on Tuesday saying that 40 policemen had attacked Jaya Prada in Rampur and demanded protection and security for her. He called Uttar Pradesh a banana republic.

Preventive Measures

FINANCIAL constraints have put the ambitious Universal Health Coverage plan in cold storage for the time being,but the positive side is that this seems to have forced the government to devote some attention to the long-neglected field of family medicine,with focus on its preventive aspects. The National Rural Health Mission has partnered with the Academy of Family Physicians of India and the National Health Systems Resource Centre to organise the first-ever National Conference on Family Medicine and Primary Care on April 20-21. Officials say the conference will stress on the need of prevention and the role that the dying breed of family doctors play in this regard. The main idea behind the UHC plan too was to promote prevention of diseases.

Gold Standard

BLAME it on globalisation. The fiscal condition of Cyprus seems to be sending shock-waves in Karnataka where candidates in the upcoming Assembly election are feeling the heat. Many candidates are said to have invested in gold,hoping that an appreciation in prices will help them finance their campaign. But the sharp drop in gold prices in the last few days,attributed to large-scale selling of gold by debt-laden Cypriots,has triggered panic among them. Their plight has come to the notice of the political parties in Delhi and is a subject of discussion in political circles. The dip in the fortunes of their candidates is likely to force the political parties to dig deeper into their coffers for the elections.

Unsocial Media

THE plan of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to launch an online newspaper to popularise the governments initiatives has run into hurdles. The Planning Commission is said to be not entirely convinced and has objected to the idea. The ministry had,sometime back,circulated a draft Cabinet note proposing the creation of a new wing under a Joint Secretary level officer to deal with social media. Launch of an online newspaper was part of this proposal. The Planning Commission is learnt to have pointed out that all government statements get routinely uploaded on the PIB website and also on the websites of the respective ministries. These days videos of press conferences and speeches of important government functionaries are also uploaded on the Internet. Besides,most of the ministries and ministers have Twitter handles and Facebook accounts. All these,the Planning Commission has argued,renders the idea of an online newspaper meaningless.